Long road to recovery for flooded firms

Five months on from the devastating Boxing Day floods, businesses are beginning to bounce back from the destruction caused.

It has been a long slog for many, with damage to clear, form after form to fill out and the reality of sky high flood insurance quotes.

But the Community Foundation for Calderdale (CFFC), along with the Leeds Enterprise Partnership, is providing much-needed grants to businesses to help them back on their feet.

One of those is Der Street Garage in Todmorden, which has stood in the town for nearly three decades. Around £20,000 worth of damage was caused in the 2012 floods and it had only just recovered when the Christmas deluge hit.

Owner Kassandra Patrick, who runs the business with her husband Matthew, said: “It has been so hard. The insurance premium went up from £3,500 to about £8,500 and the excess for flood and storm damage went from £2,500 to £25,000. We’ve all being trying our best to keep it going and the customers have been amazing.”

In an effort to keep customers the business is currently contracting work out it cannot provide because of lost or damaged equipment, which means it does not earn from those particular jobs.

Mrs Patrick added: “If we didn’t have the grants, the garage would have shut, we couldn’t have done it.”

Nelsons Wine Bar, Crown Street, Hebden Bridge, will benefit from a £13,000 CFFC grant to help it on the road to recovery after being hit. The business was flooded in 2006, 2012 and on Boxing Day, but hopes to reopen in June.

Owners Lou Millichamp and Nuno Lopes, said: “It just flooded really, really quickly, it was almost tidal. But everyone just rallied around and we’d really like to thank everyone for their help.”